You know this is a rather double edged sword type thing. Because on one hand if more people join the at&t network to get iPhone then they might spend more money because they'll have more money to better their network to meet our needs i.e. 4g. But the competition might also bring us other goodies as well.

WTF?! Someone always says what I was going to say before I say it! ):<

I don't want Apple to sell iPhones on other carriers. So many people switched to AT&T because of the iPhone and that gave AT&T more money to improve the network. I was with AT&T before the iPhone and I don't plan on switching to another carrier if and when the iPhone is sold on them, so I don't want the iPhone to be sold on them.

Originally Posted by carlos.michell

If i was Verizon i would pay apple to not extend the contract. Think of the money to be made.

On top of the money they'd have to pay FOR the iPhone?

The only way Verizon is getting the iPhone is if they offer a better deal than AT&T before a contract renewal. If Apple is making more money by only selling their phones to AT&T, why would they care to sell to another network?

Originally Posted by sziklassy

It is my understanding that the dropped calls is hardware related and not network related.

Really? Wish people would stop blaming AT&T. But that sucks that it's Apple's fault.

Originally Posted by sziklassy

That and Apple wanted a larger cut of the monthly contracts than anyone other than ATT was willing to provide. Fact of the matter is I think most people thought the iPhone would be a failure, or at least not be as successful as it is.

AT&T deserves to be the exclusive carrier. They invested in a phone everyone else thought wouldn't be that great, and now they are getting the benefits of it. Why should AT&T have had to risk losing or not really making much money off the iPhone when it first came out, and then have to share the phone with other carriers when it becomes a hit?

I believe (correct me if I am wrong) that Apple could not come to agreement with the two W-CDMA carriers in China leaving the other two (which I believe both use CDMA2000) carriers.

It is rather confusing as most people refer to AT&T as GSM and Verizon as CDMA whereas the 3G technology is W-CDMA for AT&T (and most of the rest of the world) and CDMA2000 for Verizon see the wiki article on [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umts"]UMTS[/ame] for clarification.

This means that if Apple are in talks with one of the remaining two Chinese carriers it would be on CDMA2000 which is what Verizon use.

Unless, of course, i've got it totally wrong

He who asks a question looks foolish for 5 minutes. He who doesn't ask a question remains foolish forever.

I think we should all rise as one and say enough is enough. AT&T should go and we should all enjoy better service, better coverage, better 3G, no interference, no restrictions if we feel like it.
Also i would just love to see a big blow delivered to AT&T for their past and current arrogant business practices due to the exclusivity.
Come on Steve let us have a choice. Say no to AT&T!!

WTF?! Someone always says what I was going to say before I say it! ):<

I don't want Apple to sell iPhones on other carriers. So many people switched to AT&T because of the iPhone and that gave AT&T more money to improve the network. I was with AT&T before the iPhone and I don't plan on switching to another carrier if and when the iPhone is sold on them, so I don't want the iPhone to be sold on them.

On top of the money they'd have to pay FOR the iPhone?

The only way Verizon is getting the iPhone is if they offer a better deal than AT&T before a contract renewal. If Apple is making more money by only selling their phones to AT&T, why would they care to sell to another network?

Really? Wish people would stop blaming AT&T. But that sucks that it's Apple's fault.

AT&T deserves to be the exclusive carrier. They invested in a phone everyone else thought wouldn't be that great, and now they are getting the benefits of it. Why should AT&T have had to risk losing or not really making much money off the iPhone when it first came out, and then have to share the phone with other carriers when it becomes a hit?

Be happy with your Storm, Verizon!

Why would you care?? Are you the owner or CEO of AT&T? They did nothing but restricted all of us by not allowing all the features of the iPhone to be available for users.
They are taking money out of your pocket based on false promises and providing second rate service and coverage. It's a joke that this is possible in an open market economy that a carrier blackmails customers and the manufacturer of the device.
AT&T is the black sheep and the evil of the cell phone market.I hope they lose the exclusivity.

(2) - No, you mean no PREVIOUS iPhone has been GSM. We already know what the past has been. New iPhone in June.......

Regardless of whether they get the extension or not, AT&T safely has the iPhone for THREE more years. You will simply not see a non-GSM version in the states until then. The only place in the world where the possibility of a CMDA variation exists is China.

A Sprint/CMDA iPhone here is simply not going to happen this June and won't until 2012. There's absolutely no way around this.

The whole point of this thread is that many people believe there is a 'get out' clause for Apple believed to be 2 years into the 5 year deal (ie this June) whereby Apple can break the exclusivity agreement with AT&T (in the USA) or O2 (in the UK) and presumably others if certain targets have not been met. No one, apart from the parties involved, know what the targets are or if they have been met.

He who asks a question looks foolish for 5 minutes. He who doesn't ask a question remains foolish forever.

Which is why there is no competition in the USA - just different carriers on completely different standards.
At least in Europe everyone uses the same standards which is why prices are so much cheaper!

He who asks a question looks foolish for 5 minutes. He who doesn't ask a question remains foolish forever.

They did nothing but restricted all of us by not allowing all the features of the iPhone to be available for users.

I don't know about you, but I can use ALL the features of the iPhone and have been able to since the second I got it.

And last time I checked, it was Apple limiting most of the features the iPhone could have. It's not AT&T that prevented us from having MMS, A2DP, copy & paste, etc. as none of these features were available on other networks in other countries.

Originally Posted by rolandgabor

They are taking money out of your pocket based on false promises and providing second rate service and coverage.

Actually, I choose to pay them. They wouldn't get away with stealing. And I'm not sure what you mean by "false promises". AT&T hasn't promised me anything that I don't have.

And on the topic of coverage, it's like that for every carrier. Just because Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile has better coverage than AT&T in YOUR area doesn't mean it's better than AT&T everywhere. AT&T's coverage and speed has never been an issue for me, and that's all that matters. This poll asked if we think AT&T should keep exclusivity and since I don't have any problems with them, I think so. I really don't care if you're not happy with the service you get because it doesn't affect me at all.

Originally Posted by rolandgabor

It's a joke that this is possible in an open market economy that a carrier blackmails customers and the manufacturer of the device.

Please explain to me how AT&T is blackmailing us. :/ And AT&T has no control over Apple. Apple can choose to say no if they want and sell iPhones on any network once the contract ends.

Originally Posted by rolandgabor

AT&T is the black sheep and the evil of the cell phone market.I hope they lose the exclusivity.

Evil? They invested in a product others thought would fail and they're receiving the benefits from it. If you invest in a new company that winds up doing extremely well later on, why should you have to share your wealth with someone that didn't because they thought it would fail?

Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?

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